AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Raleigh: Why It Happens and How to Prevent It
AdBlue already in the diesel tank? Then put this page down for now, keep your ignition and motor off, and phone 0333 366 0103. Usually, when your motor hasn't run, it is drained and thoroughly purged where the vehicle sits around Raleigh. If you're reading before it has happened, the rest of this page is about why it happens and how to make sure it doesn't.
Why does AdBlue in a diesel car need its own filler?
No single liquid but two: that's what plenty of modern diesels around Raleigh and Barnstaple carry, with diesel for the motor. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to clean it, and it lives in a tank of its own.
Each tank has its own filler. On a lot of cars the two sit side by side under the same flap; on others the AdBlue filler is in the boot or under the bonnet. Diesel gets filled at every filling station visit, again and again. Much less commonly, the AdBlue side is topped up — mostly from a bottle, by someone working out where it goes. It is in the gap that the error lives.
Raleigh: how AdBlue in your diesel tank happens
Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is seldom one of them.
On a drive off Oswald Browning Way before work, or in the car park outside Flukey's Bar on the way home: that is where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue gets low the vehicle tells you, and once it is empty, limp mode follows.
Next, the hand goes for the cap it knew on the old car — since a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car places the fillers where your last one didn't.
Nothing stops the tip after it has started, since a bottle with a spout goes into a diesel filler as readily as an AdBlue one. The bottle fits. Whether it occurs in Derby or the middle of Raleigh, it's the same few seconds.
The AdBlue filler and your diesel filler: telling them apart
Whether a Raleigh forecourt or a driveway over in Pottington, take a couple of seconds over these before anything is poured in.
- The cap. The AdBlue cap is commonly blue, or marked "AdBlue". The diesel cap usually isn't. Read it rather than going by where it sits.
- Many cars fit AdBlue the smaller neck of the two.
- The flap. Look inside your fuel flap for a label. Plenty of cars say there which fuel goes where.
- Cannot find it next to the diesel filler? Then check below the bonnet or in the boot — the owner's manual says which.
- Ask the person who drove it last — before you leave, not when the light comes on — when you collect a hire or company car from somewhere like the car park at Barnstaple.
How to top up without AdBlue in your diesel tank
For the day the light appears — wherever you are in Devon — a simple routine to follow.
- Not in a rush on the side of Charles Hudson Lane, not on a slope, not with the engine running: park and switch off first.
- Find the AdBlue filler, read the cap, and say the name "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew it. It sounds daft. It works.
- If both sit under one flap, check the diesel cap is still closed before you lift the bottle — then leave the car on.
- Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it is full or the bottle is empty.
- Close the cap and check again. Make sure your diesel cap was never opened. Only then start the car.
Stop there if you find, at step two or three, that you've already poured into the diesel side. Skip stage five altogether.
AdBlue in your diesel tank already, around Raleigh?
Brief order, then. First: your motor remains unstarted. Do not switch your ignition on; on plenty of diesels that alone runs the fuel pump. Thinning it with more diesel fails, because AdBlue settles to the base instead of mixing — and that's where the fuel is pulled from.
Ask the staff to help push your car away from the petrol pump if you are at a forecourt — the BP, the Esso or somewhere else. Your own drive around Raleigh is the place it stays.
If your engine has already run, stop as soon as it is safe then switch off. Come off the M5 — under 50 miles out of Raleigh — at the first exit. Distance counts — a short hop across Raleigh makes a smaller job than driving under 50 miles towards Exeter — so say roughly how far it went.
Raleigh: what takes place when our technicians arrive
The van comes to the car anywhere it has come to rest — your own drive, beside Kingdom Hall, or by Yeo Valley Primary School. The replies settle this work and the price, and so our technicians ask what was put in, about how much, and if it's run. You hear that price by phone, before anyone heads out.
Then your tank is emptied and your system cleaned thoroughly. Much more than with petrol, it matters here: crystals build up, certain metals corrode, and nothing washes away unaided, no matter how long it sits. A test is at the end: before that, clean diesel goes in, and your filter is cleaned or changed if necessary. Your engine is started next and tested to be sure it runs smoothly, all before our engineers go.
Unstarted vehicles mostly need a half-hour visit after the moment we arrive. The equipment is safe on a busy filling station, and quiet enough for a driveway late at night. Your insurer usually wants an engineer's report and your VAT invoice, and you get both at the end. Payment comes on the day, with no money upfront. It's worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover is included with many policies.
About Raleigh
Raleigh is a suburban area in Devon, situated on the riverside with a low elevation of around 10 metres. Raleigh lies near the cities of Exeter and the surrounding villages of Derby, Bradiford, and Pilton, within the South West region of England. Raleigh has a population of approximately 5039 residents, predominantly living in terraced housing.
AdBlue drains around Raleigh and across Devon
Raleigh is a residential suburb, and the teams that cover it also work the towns near it, Bradiford and Pilton among them, across the EX postcode area. Give a postcode beginning EX31 4, and our van arrives quickest.
Shifting your car isn't needed. We drain it where it is — a side street close to St Mary the Virgin, a lay-by on the way to Pilton Park, a driveway. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Queen's Walk? Close to a border? Asking beats assuming, and so ring.
Raleigh drivers: the short version
Read the cap before you tip. AdBlue in your diesel tank after all? Leave the car off and phone 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel drains it where it stands, across Devon.